Blast kills 6 children, 1 man in Afghanistan
Police yesterday said a bomb hidden in a trash heap has killed six children and one man in southern Afghanistan.
Police spokesman Farid Ayal says the children were rummaging for scrap metal and bottles when the homemade bomb exploded yesterday in Trinkot, capital of Uruzgan province, about 400 kilometres southwest of Kabul.
Four other children were wounded by the explosion.
Roadside bombs are a favourite weapon of Taliban insurgents against foreign troops and the U.S.-backed government, but they also kill dozens of civilians each month.
The U.N. estimates improvised bombs and suicide attacks accounted for half of nearly 1,500 civilian deaths in the first six months of last year, the most recent statistics.
At least 544 Nato troops died in Afghanistan in 2011. It was the second deadliest year for the coalition in the 10-year war.
Four troops died in one of yesterday's bombings and one was killed in a separate blast. The alliance said both incidents occurred in southern Afghanistan but provided no further details.
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